The Fates Picture

Here depicted are the three Fates also known as Moirae, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. Those are their names starting from left to right. Between them the they weave the never ending thread of fate within a temple made up of the roots of the world tree Axis Mundi at the center of the great ocean of Gnosis. Surrounding the tree is of course the coils of Jormungandr, the Midgard serpent.

Clotho sports a Greek look inspired by a picture of Arachne I once saw in a book of Greek mythology. She's supposed to be the Weaver so I gave her multiple arms like a spider.

Lachesis sports an Egyptian motif inspired by Hathor. Lachesis is the stolid middle sister, apportioning out each life in turn. In the symbolism of Maiden, Mother, Crone Lachesis would be the Mother figure, which has strong associations to Hathor as well as cows, hence her Hathor look.

Finally, Atropos is the one who cuts the thread of fate and ends life. She sports a Native American/Tibetan/Ainu inspired garb and an owl motif. Owls have often been associated with death and the phrase "The Sound of Her Wings" kept running through my mind as I was thinking about Atropos as well. The Her in that statement referring to Neil Gaiman's character Death of the Endless. So, Atropos sports owl wings allowing her to fly silently.

And what of those faces in the background you ask? They're masks actually. I'll point out that the three Fates are already wearing Masks, those are not their true faces. The masks on the right I think are sort of obvious at least to me. They represent Maiden, Mother and Crone. The masks on the left are a bit more esoteric and they represent the three Furies.

The entire picture was done with watercolor, pen & ink and prismacolor pencils on illustration board. Something I will never try again since the way I do watercolor tends to be rather heavy handed, which nearly destroys illustration board. Ah well, live and learn.